Dynamic ASBR scheduler

ABSTRACT

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate dynamically scheduling frequency sets for reuse by user devices to reduce inter-cell interference by evaluating an overall scheduling metric for each user device in a wireless communication region. The overall scheduling metric can be evaluated by determining a fairness metric for each user device in a wireless communication region, an overall channel peak desirability metric for each user device, and a channel delay desirability metric for each user device. The overall scheduling metric can be the product of the fairness metric and one or more of the overall channel peak desirability metric and the channel delay desirability metric. A user device with a highest overall scheduling metric score for a given round of dynamic scheduling can be awarded a frequency set.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) from U.S.Provisional Patent application Ser. No. 60/578,258 entitled “DYNAMICASBR SCHEDULER” and filed Jun. 8, 2004, the entirety of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

I. Field

The following description relates generally to wireless communications,and more particularly to scheduling resource assignments to user devicesin a wireless network environment.

II. Background

Wireless networking systems have become a prevalent means by which amajority of people worldwide has come to communicate. Wirelesscommunication devices have become smaller and more powerful in order tomeet consumer needs and to improve portability and convenience. Theincrease in processing power in mobile devices such as cellulartelephones has lead to an increase in demands on wireless networktransmission systems. Such systems typically are not as easily updatedas the cellular devices that communicate there over. As mobile devicecapabilities expand, it can be difficult to maintain an older wirelessnetwork system in a manner that facilitates fully exploiting new andimproved wireless device capabilities.

More particularly, frequency division based techniques typicallyseparate the spectrum into distinct channels by splitting it intouniform chunks of bandwidth, for example, division of the frequency bandallocated for wireless cellular telephone communication can be splitinto 30 channels, each of which can carry a voice conversation or, withdigital service, carry digital data. Each channel can be assigned toonly one user at a time. One commonly utilized variant is an orthogonalfrequency division technique that effectively partitions the overallsystem bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subbands. These subbands arealso referred to as tones, carriers, subcarriers, bins, and frequencychannels. Each subband is associated with a subcarrier that can bemodulated with data. With time division based techniques, a band issplit time-wise into sequential time slices or time slots. Each user ofa channel is provided with a time slice for transmitting and receivinginformation in a round-robin manner. For example, at any given time t, auser is provided access to the channel for a short burst. Then, accessswitches to another user who is provided with a short burst of time fortransmitting and receiving information. The cycle of “taking turns”continues, and eventually each user is provided with multipletransmission and reception bursts.

Code division based techniques typically transmit data over a number offrequencies available at any time in a range. In general, data isdigitized and spread over available bandwidth, wherein multiple userscan be overlaid on the channel and respective users can be assigned aunique sequence code. Users can transmit in the same wide-band chunk ofspectrum, wherein each user's signal is spread over the entire bandwidthby its respective unique spreading code. This technique can provide forsharing, wherein one or more users can concurrently transmit andreceive. Such sharing can be achieved through spread spectrum digitalmodulation, wherein a user's stream of bits is encoded and spread acrossa very wide channel in a pseudo-random fashion. The receiver is designedto recognize the associated unique sequence code and undo therandomization in order to collect the bits for a particular user in acoherent manner.

A typical wireless communication network (e.g., employing frequency,time, and code division techniques) includes one or more base stationsthat provide a coverage area and one or more mobile (e.g., wireless)terminals that can transmit and receive data within the coverage area. Atypical base station can simultaneously transmit multiple data streamsfor broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast services, wherein a data streamis a stream of data that can be of independent reception interest to amobile terminal. A mobile terminal within the coverage area of that basestation can be interested in receiving one, more than one or all thedata streams carried by the composite stream. Likewise, a mobileterminal can transmit data to the base station or another mobileterminal. Such communication between base station and mobile terminal orbetween mobile terminals can be degraded due to channel variationsand/or interference power variations. For example, the aforementionedvariations can affect base station scheduling, power control and/or rateprediction for one or more mobile terminals.

Active set based restrictive frequency hopping (ASBR) is a techniquedesigned to reduce inter-cell interference in wireless communicationsystems. ASBR is a global planning scheme that takes into account thechannel and interference measured by users of a wireless network. ASBRseeks to reuse frequencies for selected users based on channel qualityassociated therewith. Conventional static ASBR algorithms are inflexibleand cannot accommodate data traffic bursts or data traffic of variedfairness requirements, which results in a less robust user communicationexperience.

In view of at least the above, there exists a need in the art for asystem and/or methodology of improving wireless communication andfrequency resource allocation to users in a wireless networkenvironment.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodimentsin order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments,and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of allembodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its solepurpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in asimplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that ispresented later.

In accordance with one or more embodiments and corresponding disclosurethereof, various aspects are described in connection with providing apacket-based dynamic active set based restricted (ASBR) frequencyscheduler in a wireless network environment. According to one aspect, amethod of dynamically scheduling frequency sets for reuse by userdevices to reduce inter-cell interference comprises determining afairness metric for each user device in a wireless communication region,determining an overall channel peak desirability metric for each userdevice, and determining an overall scheduling metric for each userdevice, the overall scheduling metric is the product of the fairnessmetric and the channel peak desirability metric. According to a relatedaspect, a channel delay desirability metric can be determined for eachuser device, and the overall scheduling metric can employ the channeldelay desirability metric in addition to or in place of the overallchannel peak desirability metric. A user device with a highest overallscheduling metric score can be awarded a frequency set, and the methodcan be reiterated until all user devices have been assigned a frequencyset.

According to another aspect, a system that facilitates dynamic ASBRfrequency scheduling in a wireless network environment comprises an ASBRscheduling component that determines an overall scheduling metric foreach user device in the wireless network environment, a peak componentthat determines an overall channel peak desirability metric for eachuser device, and a delay component that determines a channel delaydesirability metric for each user device. The dynamic ASBR schedulingcomponent can determine a fairness metric for each user device using anequal grade of service technique, a proportional fairness technique, orthe like, which can be multiplied by one or more of the overall channelpeak desirability metric and the channel delay desirability metric toidentify a winning user device that can be awarded a frequency setduring a given round of frequency set assignment. The system canadditionally comprise a sorter component that excludes a winning userdevice from subsequent assignment iterations in order to ensure that alluser devices receive a frequency assignment. Alternatively, the sortercomponent can include a winning user device in subsequent assignmentiterations in order to permit the user device to obtain multiplefrequency set assignments.

According to yet another aspect, an apparatus that facilitatesscheduling frequency assignments for user devices in a wirelesscommunication environment comprises means for determining a fairnessmetric for each user device in the communication environment, means fordetermining an overall channel peak desirability metric for each userdevice, means for determining a channel delay desirability metric foreach device, and means for determining an overall scheduling metricscore for each device, the scheduling metric score is a product of thefairness metric and one or both of the overall channel peak desirabilitymetric and the and the channel delay desirability metric. Overallscheduling metric scores for individual user devices can be compared,and a user device with a highest score can be awarded a frequency set.

Another aspect provides for a computer-readable medium having storedthereon computer-executable instructions for determining fairness metricfor each user device in a wireless network environment, for determiningan overall channel peak desirability metric for each user device, andfor determining a channel delay desirability metric for each userdevice. Additionally, the computer-readable medium can compriseinstructions for determining a scheduling metric score based on thepreceding metrics, which can be employed to determine a winning userdevice to which a frequency set can be awarded.

Still another aspect relates to a microprocessor that executesinstructions for dynamic frequency set scheduling in a wirelesscommunication network region, the instructions comprising: assessing aeach of a fairness metric, an overall channel peak desirability metric,and a channel delay desirability metric for each of a plurality of userdevices in the network region; determining an overall scheduling metricscore for each user device that is based on the fairness metric and atleast one of the overall channel peak desirability metric and thechannel delay desirability metric; and awarding a frequency set to auser device with a highest overall scheduling metric relative to theother user devices in the network region.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreembodiments comprises the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects ofthe one or more embodiments. These aspects are indicative, however, ofbut a few of the various ways in which the principles of variousembodiments may be employed and the described embodiments are intendedto include all such aspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram that facilitates understanding of activeset based restricted frequency hopping (ASBR) and resource allocationwith regard thereto.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a system that facilitates dynamicallyallocating network resources using ASBR in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a system that facilitates packet-basedscheduling of frequency sets utilizing a dynamic ASBR schedulingtechnique.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system that facilitates dynamic ASBR scheduling offrequency reuse sets based on channel desirability and channel delay, inaccordance with various aspects set forth herein.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a system that facilitates dynamicallyadjusting power consumption for transmissions to user devices withsufficiently strong channel conditions, in accordance with variousaspects.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a system that facilitates providingmultiple reuse frequency sets to a user.

FIG. 7 illustrates a system that facilitates dynamic packet-based ASBRscheduling of communication frequency reuse sets without requiringassignment of connections to a static frequency reuse set.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of a system that facilitates assigningfrequency reuse sets to user devices based on assessment of channeldesirability metrics for the user devices.

FIG. 9 illustrates a methodology for providing dynamic frequency reuseset assignments to user devices in a wireless network in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates a methodology for dynamically scheduling frequencyreuse set assignments and mitigating resource waste in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates a methodology for dynamically assigning frequencyreuse sets to user devices in a wireless communication environment whilepermitting a user device to obtain multiple frequency sets.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of a wireless network environment that can beemployed in conjunction with the various systems and methods describedherein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments are now described with reference to the drawings,wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of one or more embodiments. It may be evident, however,that such embodiment(s) may be practiced without these specific details.In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form in order to facilitate describing one or more embodiments.

Furthermore, various embodiments are described herein in connection witha subscriber station. A subscriber station can also be called a system,a subscriber unit, mobile station, mobile, remote station, access point,base station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, useragent, or user equipment. A subscriber station may be a cellulartelephone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a handheld device having wireless connection capability, or otherprocessing device connected to a wireless modem.

Moreover, various aspects or features described herein may beimplemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture usingstandard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term “article ofmanufacture” as used herein is intended to encompass a computer programaccessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. Forexample, computer readable media can include but are not limited tomagnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips. . . ), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk(DVD). . . ), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick,key drive . . . ).

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram 100 thatfacilitates understanding of active set based restricted frequencyhopping (ASBR) and resource allocation with regard thereto. An aspect ofASBR is to intelligently deploy frequency for reuse by selected usersbased on the users' channel qualities. With regard to CDMA systems, an“active set” can be defined for each user for handoff purposes. Sectorsin the active set of a user usually contribute interference to theuser's reception on the forward link (FL), while sector transmissionsare interfered with by the user's transmission on a reverse link (RL).By avoiding interference from various sectors in a user's active set,reduced interference on both FL and RL can be achieved. Simulations andanalysis have shown that the frequency reuse assignment algorithm basedon a user's active set yields a 3.5 dB signal-to-interference and noiseratio (SINR) improvement with 25% bandwidth partial loading.

Schedulers in wireless networks can be modified, according to variousembodiments described herein, to take advantage of the SINR improvementthrough ASBR. When dealing with voice transmission traffic, voicecapacity is often limited by the SINR of the worst users in a network.Because a voice user will occupy some narrow portion of availablebandwidth for a relatively long duration, a capacity improvement can beachieved by assigning a static frequency reuse set to the user toimprove the user SINR throughout the duration of a call. However, in thecase of data traffic, conventional static ASBR algorithms are notflexible enough to accommodate “bursty” data traffic (e.g., traffic thatis intermittent, etc.) and/or traffic of varying fairness requirements.When a user transmits/receives bursty traffic, conventional systemsrequire a tradeoff to be made among frequency sets that have differentSINR, available bandwidth, and offered load (e.g., from other users on agiven reuse set). A scheduler can be further complicated if fairnesscriteria such as equal grade of service (EGoS) or proportional fairnessneed to be enforced for users from different reuse set.

Diagram 100 illustrates a simplified scenario in which communicationbandwidth is divided into four frequencies, F₁ through F₄, that can beassigned to various sectors, over which the sectors can transmit andreceive information. In the following exemplary ASBR algorithm, eachsector is assigned a value of 0, 1, or 2. The overall bandwidthavailable in a network is divided into 7 frequency sets with universalreuse, ⅓reuse and ⅔reuse. Each reuse frequency set is then labeled witha 3-bit binary mask, where a “1” at the i^(th) position indicates thatit is used by sectors of value i. For example, 110 indicates a⅔frequency reuse set that is used by sectors of values 0 and 1 but notsectors of value 2. The labels of frequency sets {U_(o), U₁, U₂, U₃, U₄,U₅, U₆} are given by {111, 110, 101, 011, 100, 010, 001}. However, itwill be appreciated that other labeling conventions are possible. Forinstance, the value of the three-bit mask can be employed to label thefrequency set (e.g., wherein 111 denotes frequency set 7, 001 denotesfrequency set 1, etc.). With frequency planning, users can avoiddominant interferers by using a ⅓ or ⅔ reuse frequency set.

In third-generation networks, the fairness among data users can beenforced by the scheduler. In a network where the forward linktransmissions to users are time multiplexed, the user with the highestscheduling metric is typically scheduled for transmission over thescheduling time slot. The scheduling metric is usually computed basednot only on a fairness metric but also on channel desirability, to takeadvantage of the multi-user diversity (MUD). For example, let λ_(i)denote the throughput of user i over a specified window, and let μ_(i)and μ _(i) denote the instant and average spectral efficiency of user i,respectively. The fairness metric F_(i) is given by:

$\begin{matrix}{{F_{i} = \frac{1}{\lambda}},} & (1)\end{matrix}$for an EGoS scheduler, and

$\begin{matrix}{{F_{i} = \frac{{\overset{\_}{\mu}}_{i}}{\lambda}},} & (2)\end{matrix}$for a proportional fair scheduler. The channel desirability metric isgiven by:

$\begin{matrix}{T_{i} = {\frac{\mu_{i}}{{\overset{\_}{\mu}}_{i}}.}} & (3)\end{matrix}$The scheduling metric can be calculated as the product of the fairnessmetric and the channel desirability metric as given by:S_(i=)F_(i) T_(i).  (4)

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a system 200 that facilitates dynamicallyallocating network resources using ASBR in accordance with one or moreembodiments. A dynamic ASBR scheduler component 202 is operativelycoupled to each of a wireless network 204 user device(s) 206. Wirelessnetwork 204 can comprise on or more base stations, transceivers, etc.,that transmit and receive communication signals from one or more userdevices 206. Additionally, wireless network 204 can providecommunication service to user devices 206 in conjunction with an OFDMprotocol, and OFDMA protocol, a CDMA protocol, a TDMA protocol, acombination thereof, or any other suitable wireless communicationprotocol, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art. User devices206 can be, for example, a cellular phone, a smartphone a PDA, a laptop,a wireless PC, or any other suitable communication device over which auser can communicate with the wireless network 204.

Dynamic ASBR scheduler component 202 is a packet-based scheduler thatcan employ frequency reuse as a scheduling dimension in addition to EgoSand proportional fairness criteria without requiring utilization of astatic frequency reuse set. Dynamic ASBR scheduler component 202 candetermine a scheduling metric in a manner similar to that set forthabove with regard to FIG. 1 in order to facilitate frequency setassignment to one or more user devices 206. Additionally, dynamic ASBRscheduler component 202 can employ a dynamic ASBR algorithm tofacilitate assessing channel desirability. Dynamic ASBR schedulercomponent 202 can assess fairness criteria to determine F_(i) asdescribed above, which can be augmented by desirability metrics whenassigning frequency reuse sets. Two channel desirability metrics aredefined with regard to various embodiments to enable ASBR frequency setselection as detailed below.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a system 300 that facilitates packet-basedscheduling of frequency sets utilizing a dynamic ASBR schedulingtechnique. System 300 comprises a dynamic ASBR scheduler component 302operatively associated with a wireless network 304 and one or more userdevices 306, each of which are in turn operatively associated with theother. Dynamic ASBR scheduler component 302 further comprises a channelassessment component 308 that facilitates scheduling connections withthe best relative channel conditions over available frequency sets.Additionally, in a scenario in which a given connection's more desirablefrequency sets are occupied, channel assessment component 308 canfacilitate delaying connections for later scheduling in order to provideconflict resolution functionality to dynamic ASBR scheduler component302.

Dynamic ASBR scheduler component 302 additionally comprises a frequencyanalyzer 310 that can assess total available bandwidth in wirelessnetwork 304 and can parse such bandwidth into frequency sets. Forexample, in a case such as described with regard to FIG. 1, frequencyanalyzer 310 can assign frequency sets to sectors for reuse to theexclusion of other frequencies. Such assignments can be, for instance,universal reuse sets, ⅔ reuse sets, ⅓ reuse sets, etc.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system 400 that facilitates dynamic ASBR schedulingof frequency reuse sets based on channel desirability and channel delay,in accordance with various aspects set forth herein. System 400comprises a dynamic ASBR scheduler component 402 that is operativelyassociated with each of a wireless network 404 and one or more userdevices 406. Dynamic ASBR scheduler component 402 comprises a channelassessment component 408 that facilitates scheduling connections withbest relative channel conditions over available frequency sets, and afrequency analyzer 410 that determines appropriate bandwidth partitionsfor assignment of frequencies to sectors and/or user devices in a pagingregion.

Channel assessment component 408 comprises a peak component 412 thatdetermines channel peak desirability to facilitate schedulingconnections, and a delay component 414 that delays scheduling ofconnections whose more favorable frequency sets are currently fullyscheduled. For example, peak component 412 can assess channel peakdesirability such that, for each frequency set j, the channel peakdesirability factor of user i is given by:

$\begin{matrix}{T_{i,j} = {\frac{\mu_{i,j}}{{\overset{\_}{\mu}}_{i}}.}} & (5)\end{matrix}$where μ_(i,j) is the instant spectral efficiency of user i overfrequency set j, and μ _(i) is the average spectral efficiency of user iover all the ASBR frequency sets. The average spectral efficiency can becalculated as the algebraic average of the filtered spectral efficiencyμ _(i,j) over each ASBR frequency set U_(j), or the weighted average of|U_(j)| μ _(i,j), where |U_(j)| denotes the size of U_(j).

The overall channel peak desirability factor of user i is given by:T_(i)=max_(jε{free frequency set})T_(i,j),  (6)where the maximization is carried out over non-restricted frequency setsthat are not already fully scheduled. For example, the scheduler of asector of value 0 can restrict the channel desirability factor to becomputed over frequency sets that are not fully scheduled, and not overone of the 011, 010 and 001 sets. The factor T_(i) reflects the instantchannel desirability of a user on the user's best available frequencyset relative to the user's average channel quality. The channel peakdesirability factor T_(i) does not reflect the potential benefit for auser to wait for an unavailable frequency set to become available.Rather, such can be defined by the channel delay desirability metric.

Delay component 414 can determine a second ASBR channel desirabilitymetric, channel delay desirability, which is defined by:

$\begin{matrix}{D_{i,j} = {\frac{\mu_{i,j}}{\max_{k \in {\{{{scheduled}\mspace{14mu}{frequency}\mspace{14mu}{set}}\}}}\mu_{i,k}}.}} & (7)\end{matrix}$When no frequency sets have been scheduled, the denominator in D_(i,j)can be replaced by the minimum spectral efficiency over all frequencysets. The overall delay desirability factor is given by:D_(i)=max_(jε{free frequency set})D_(i,j),  (8)where the maximization is carried out over non-restricted frequency setsthat are not already fully scheduled. Thus, the channel delaydesirability can be defined as the ratio between the maximum instantspectral efficiency over all free frequency sets, and the maximuminstant spectral efficiency over all unavailable frequency sets.

The overall ASBR scheduling metric utilized by dynamic ASBR schedulercomponent 402 can thus be of one of the following forms:

$\begin{matrix}{S_{i} = \left\{ {\begin{matrix}{F_{i}T_{i}} & {{peak}\mspace{14mu}{diversity}} \\{F_{i}D_{i}} & {{delay}\mspace{14mu}{diversity}} \\{F_{i}T_{i}D_{i}} & {{{peak}\&}\mspace{11mu}{delay}\mspace{14mu}{diversity}}\end{matrix}.} \right.} & (9)\end{matrix}$For each time slot, dynamic ASBR scheduler component 402 can rank thescheduling metric and assign a top user an appropriate number ofsubcarriers in the user's winning frequency set. The scheduledsubcarriers can then be excluded from the free frequency set(s), andmetrics can be recomputed for users who are not already scheduled. Thisprocess can be iterated until all subcarriers are assigned.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a system 500 that facilitates dynamicallyadjusting power consumption for transmissions to user devices withsufficiently strong channel conditions, in accordance with variousaspects. The system 500 comprises a dynamic ASBR scheduler component502, a wireless network 504, and one or more user devices 506, all ofwhich are operatively associated with each other, as detailed above withregard the preceding figures. Dynamic ASBR scheduler component 502comprises a frequency analyzer 510 and a channel assessment component508, which in turn comprises a peak component 512 and a delay component514. Peak component 512 can determine a channel peak desirability metricthat can be employed in conjunction with a channel delay desirabilitymetric as described with regard to FIG. 4 to determine an overallscheduling metric, S_(i), that can be utilized by dynamic ASBR schedulercomponent 502 when assigning frequency sets to the one or more userdevices 506.

Dynamic ASBR scheduler component 502 further comprises a low powercomponent 516 that facilitates power conservation based at least in parton channel quality associated with one or more user devices 506. ASBRcan introduce bandwidth partial loading due to restricted sets in eachsector. For instance, in diagram 100 of FIG. 1, the 011, 010 and 001sets are not used in sectors with a value of 0. The low power component516 of the dynamic ASBR scheduler 502 can transmit at reduced power onrestricted port sets to user devices 506 with good channel conditions.In this manner, the bandwidth partial loading penalty can be avoided. Toenable universal reuse, equations (6) and (8) can be evaluated over allfrequency sets that are not scheduled, without the ASBR sector valuerestriction. In addition, the spectral efficiency of the restrictedfrequency sets can take into account the lowered transmission power.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a system 600 that facilitates providingmultiple reuse frequency sets to a user. System 600 comprises a dynamicASBR scheduler 602 having a channel assessment component 608, afrequency analyzer 610, and a low power component 616, and which isoperatively associated with a wireless network 604 and one or more userdevices 606. Channel assessment component 608 comprises a peak component612 that determines a channel peak desirability metric for a each userdevice 606 and a delay component 614 that evaluates a channel delaydesirability metric for each respective user device, which metrics arethen employed by the ASBR scheduler 602 to determine a winning userdevice. The winning user device can then be assigned the reuse frequencyset in question.

Dynamic ASBR scheduler 602 further comprises a sorter component 618 thatfacilitates relaxing various constraints associated with ASBR schedulingand providing multiple reuse frequency set assignments. Sorter component618 can ensure that a user device 606 that has been assigned a reusefrequency set in a previous round of channel desirability assessment isnot excluded from future iterations of frequency set awarding. Forexample, when employing a static ASBR scheduler protocol, a user devicethat has been assigned/awarded a reuse frequency set based on a highoverall channel desirability score (e.g., a product of channel peakdesirability and delay desirability metrics) can typically be excludedfrom future iterations of frequency assignment because the user devicehas successfully been assigned a reuse frequency set. By relaxing thisexclusion restriction, a given user device 606 can be awarded multiplefrequency sets. A final channel assignment for a user device 606 can bethe union of all subcarriers that the user device 606 has been assignedover the multiple frequency sets. Moreover, multiple frequency setassignment can increase peak rates for such users, which in turnmitigates delay associated with communication transmission.

FIG. 7 illustrates a system 700 that facilitates dynamic packet-basedASBR scheduling of communication frequency reuse sets without requiringassignment of connections to a static frequency reuse set. System 700comprises a plurality of components similar to the systems and/orcomponents described with regard to the preceding figures, including adynamic ASBR scheduler 702 that is operatively coupled to a wirelessnetwork 704 and one or more user devices 706. Dynamic ASBR schedulercomponent 702 further comprises a channels assessment component 708 thatdetermines overall channel desirability as a product of a channel peakdesirability metric determined by a peak component 712 and a channeldelay desirability metric determined by delay component 714 on a peruser device basis. Additionally, dynamic ASBR scheduler component 702comprises a frequency analyzer 710 that assesses total availablebandwidth in wireless network 704 and/or regions thereof, a low powercomponent 716 that facilitates low-power transmission to users havinghigh quality connections, and a sorter component 718 that facilitatesmultiple reuse frequency set assignments, as detailed above with regardto preceding figures.

System 700 can additionally comprise memory 720 that is operativelycoupled to dynamic ASBR scheduler component 702 and that storesinformation related to channel desirability algorithms, metrics,available frequency sets, user device frequency assignment, etc., andany other suitable information related to providing dynamic ASBRscheduling of frequency reuse sets to one or more users. A processor 722can be operatively connected to dynamic ASBR scheduler component 702(and/or memory 720) to facilitate analysis of information related tofairness criteria, desirability metrics, frequency reuse, and the like.It is to be appreciated that processor 722 can be a processor dedicatedto analyzing and/or generating information received by dynamic ASBRscheduler component 702, a processor that controls one or morecomponents of system 700, and/or a processor that both analyzes andgenerates information received by dynamic ASBR scheduler component 702and controls one or more components of system 700.

Memory 720 can additionally store protocols associated with generatingfrequency assignments, metrics, etc., such that system 700 can employstored protocols and/or algorithms to achieve dynamic ASBR frequencyhopping as described herein. It will be appreciated that the data store(e.g., memories) components described herein can be either volatilememory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile andnonvolatile memory. By way of illustration, and not limitation,nonvolatile memory can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM(PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM(EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include random accessmemory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way ofillustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such assynchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM),double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), SynchlinkDRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM). Memory 720 of the subjectsystems and methods is intended to comprise, without being limited to,these and any other suitable types of memory.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of a system 800 that facilitates assigningfrequency reuse sets to user devices based on assessment of channeldesirability metrics for the user devices. System 800 comprises adynamic ASBR scheduler 802 that is operatively coupled to a wirelessnetwork 804 and one or more user devices 806. Dynamic ASBR scheduler 802is similar to the scheduler 702, in that it comprises a channelassessment component 808 that facilitates determining various metricsassociated with frequency set allocation, and a frequency analyzer 810that assesses a total available amount of bandwidth and generates aplurality of frequency reuse subsets as detailed with regard to FIG. 1,which can be assigned to various user devices 806 to mitigateinterference in between user devices 806 and base tower transmissions inone or more sectors of wireless network 804. Additionally, dynamic ASBRscheduler 802 comprises a low power component 816 that can transmitsignal(s) to one or more user devices 806 at low power upon adetermination that the one or more user devices 806 have sufficientlystrong channel quality (e.g., sufficient resources), and a sortercomponent 818 that can optionally include user devices 806 alreadyassigned one or more frequency reuse sets in the set of users stillrequiring assignment, permitting a user to win multiple sets offrequencies, which can facilitate increasing a peak transmission ratefor the user while mitigating channel delay. Channel assessmentcomponent 808 comprises a peak component 812 that assesses a channelpeak desirability metric for each user device 806, and a delay component814 that assesses a channel delay desirability metric to determinewhether channel connection should be delayed, either or both of whichmetrics can be employed in conjunction with a fairness metric derived byASBR scheduler 802 to identify a winning user device 806 to which afrequency reuse set can be assigned.

System 800 can additionally comprise a memory 820 and a processor 822 asdetailed above with regard to FIG. 7. Moreover, an AI (artificialintelligence) component 824 can be operatively associated with dynamicASBR scheduler component 802 and can make inferences regarding channelconnection quality, inclusion/exclusion of a winning user device 806from subsequent assignment rounds, whether channel delay is desirable(e.g., due to a lack of available frequency reuse sets, . . .), etc. Asused herein, the term to “infer” or “inference” refers generally to theprocess of reasoning about or inferring states of the system,environment, and/or user from a set of observations as captured viaevents and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specificcontext or action, or can generate a probability distribution overstates, for example. The inference can be probabilistic—that is, thecomputation of a probability distribution over states of interest basedon a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer totechniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set ofevents and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of newevents or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored eventdata, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporalproximity, and whether the events and data come from one or severalevent and data sources.

According to an example, AI component 824 can infer an appropriatefrequency reuse set assignment based at least in part on, for instance,available frequency sets, total number of user devices 806, channeldesirability metrics, user device resource requirements, etc. Accordingto this example, it can be determined that a user device 806 hassufficient transmission resource assignments, such as bandwidth, etc.,in order to justify excluding the user device from a resource assignmentdespite high metric scores for the user device 806, and the like. AIcomponent 824, in conjunction with processor 814 and/or memory 812, caninfer that such a user device should be excluded in a present round offrequency assignment. In such a case, AI component 824 can facilitateresource assignment in the most efficient manner possible to facilitatebandwidth allocation and reuse, mitigate transmission costs, etc. Itwill be appreciated that the foregoing examples are illustrative innature and are not intended to limit the scope of inferences that can bemade by the AI component 824 or the manner in which the AI component 824makes such inferences.

Referring to FIGS. 9-11, methodologies relating to generatingsupplemental system resource assignments are illustrated. For example,methodologies can relate to packet-based dynamic ASBR scheduling in anOFDM environment, an OFDMA environment, a CDMA environment, a TDMAenvironment, or any other suitable wireless environment. While, forpurposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown anddescribed as a series of acts, it is to be understood and appreciatedthat the methodologies are not limited by the order of acts, as someacts may, in accordance with one or more embodiments, occur in differentorders and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown and describedherein. For example, those skilled in the art will understand andappreciate that a methodology could alternatively be represented as aseries of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram.Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement amethodology in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a methodology 900 for providing dynamic frequencyreuse set assignments to user devices in a wireless network inaccordance with various embodiments. At 902, a channel peak desirabilitymetric, T_(i), can be determined for each user device in the set of alluser devices in a network region, or a subset thereof. For instance, thepeak desirability metric for each user device can be derived usingequations (5) and (6) described above with regard to FIG. 4. At 904, achannel delay desirability metric, D_(i), can be assessed for each userdevice in conjunction with equations (7) and (8), also described withregard to FIG. 4. Once such metrics have been evaluated for all userdevices in the set, one or both metrics can be multiplied by a fairnessmetric, F_(i), for the user device, as described with regard to FIG. 1,in order to determine an overall channel desirability metric, S_(i),using equation (9), at 906. Once the overall channel desirability metrichas been derived for each user device in the set, a winning user device(e.g., a user device with the highest S_(i) value) can be identified at908.

At 910, for each time slot, the winning user device can be assigned anappropriate number of subcarriers in the user device's winning frequencyset. At 912, the scheduled subcarriers can then be excluded from thefree frequency set(s), and method 900 can revert to 902, where metricscan be recomputed for user devices not already scheduled. Method 900 canbe iterated until all subcarriers are assigned. In this manner, method900 can facilitate providing packet-based dynamic ASBR scheduling offrequency sets without requiring assignment of connections to a staticfrequency reuse set.

FIG. 10 illustrates a methodology 1000 for dynamically schedulingfrequency reuse set assignments and mitigating resource waste inaccordance with various embodiments. At 1002, an overall schedulingmetric, S_(i), can be evaluated for each user device in a set of userdevices communicating over a wireless network. The metric S_(i) can be aproduct of several metrics, as described above with regard to FIGS. 1-4and equations (1)-(9). At 1004, a winning user device can be identifiedfor each round of metric evaluation. An appropriate number ofsubcarriers in the user device's winning frequency set at 1006. At 1008,the winning user device can be excluded (e.g., removed from a list ofuser devices) in order to ensure that other user devices can receivefrequency assignments during future iterations of method 1000. Themethod can revert to 1002 for further iteration until all user devicesin the set have been assigned a set of frequencies and/or subcarriers.

At 1010, channel conditions can be evaluated and, if conditions warrant,at 1012 transmission to user devices with good channel conditions can beperformed using low power in the restricted port sets in order tomitigate bandwidth partial loading due to the restricted sets. In orderto enable universal reuse, equations (4) and 6) can be evaluated overall frequency sets that are not scheduled, and without the ASBR valuerestrictions described with regard to FIG. 1. In this manner, method1000 can facilitate reducing power consumption to mitigate transmissioncosts.

FIG. 11 illustrates a methodology 1100 for dynamically assigningfrequency reuse sets to user devices in a wireless communicationenvironment while permitting a user device to obtain multiple frequencysets. At 1102, a channel peak desirability metric, T_(i), can bedetermined for each user device in a set of user devices in a networkregion, or a subset thereof. The channel peak desirability metric foreach user device can be derived using equations (5) and (6) describedabove with regard to FIG. 4. At 1104, a channel delay desirabilitymetric, D_(i), can be assessed for each user device in conjunction withequations (7) and (8), also described with regard to FIG. 4. Once suchmetrics have been evaluated for all user devices in the set, one or bothmetrics can be multiplied by a fairness metric, F_(i), for the userdevice, as described with regard to FIG. 1, in order to determine anoverall channel desirability metric, S_(i), using equation (9), at 1106.Once the overall channel desirability metric has been derived for eachuser device in the set, a winning user device (e.g., a user device withthe highest S_(i) value) can be identified at 1108.

At 1110, for each time slot, the winning user device can be assigned anappropriate number of subcarriers in the user device's winning frequencyset. In order to permit a user device to win over multiple frequencysets, at 1112, the winning user device can be included in the remaininglist of unscheduled user devices. Thus, if a frequency set assignment at1110 is not sufficient, such that the winning device can potentiallyhave a highest overall scheduling metric score in a subsequentscheduling round, then the user device can be permitted to obtainsubsequent frequency set assignments. Method 1100 can then revert to1102 for further iterations of dynamic scheduling. A user devices finalchannel assignment can be the union of all subcarriers won by the userdevice over multiple frequency set assignment rounds, which canfacilitate increasing peak rate of communication for the user devicewhile mitigating delay.

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary wireless communication system 1200. Thewireless communication system 1200 depicts one base station and oneterminal for sake of brevity. However, it is to be appreciated that thesystem can include more than one base station and/or more than oneterminal, wherein additional base stations and/or terminals can besubstantially similar or different for the exemplary base station andterminal described below. In addition, it is to be appreciated that thebase station and/or the terminal can employ the systems (FIGS. 1-8)and/or methods (FIGS. 9-11) described herein to facilitate wirelesscommunication there between.

Referring now to FIG. 12, on a downlink, at access point 1205, atransmit (TX) data processor 1210 receives, formats, codes, interleaves,and modulates (or symbol maps) traffic data and provides modulationsymbols (“data symbols”). An OFDM modulator 1215 receives and processesthe data symbols and pilot symbols and provides a stream of OFDMsymbols. An OFDM modulator 1220 multiplexes data and pilot symbols onthe proper subbands, provides a signal value of zero for each unusedsubband, and obtains a set of N transmit symbols for the N subbands foreach OFDM symbol period. Each transmit symbol may be a data symbol, apilot symbol, or a signal value of zero. The pilot symbols may be sentcontinuously in each OFDM symbol period. Alternatively, the pilotsymbols may be time division multiplexed (TDM), frequency divisionmultiplexed (FDM), or code division multiplexed (CDM). OFDM modulator1220 can transform each set of N transmit symbols to the time domainusing an N-point IFFT to obtain a “transformed” symbol that contains Ntime-domain chips. OFDM modulator 1220 typically repeats a portion ofeach transformed symbol to obtain a corresponding OFDM symbol. Therepeated portion is known as a cyclic prefix and is used to combat delayspread in the wireless channel.

A transmitter unit (TMTR) 1220 receives and converts the stream of OFDMsymbols into one or more analog signals and further conditions (e.g.,amplifies, filters, and frequency upconverts) the analog signals togenerate a downlink signal suitable for transmission over the wirelesschannel. The downlink signal is then transmitted through an antenna 1225to the terminals. At terminal 1230, an antenna 1235 receives thedownlink signal and provides a received signal to a receiver unit (RCVR)1240. Receiver unit 1240 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, andfrequency downconverts) the received signal and digitizes theconditioned signal to obtain samples. An OFDM demodulator 1245 removesthe cyclic prefix appended to each OFDM symbol, transforms each receivedtransformed symbol to the frequency domain using an N-point FFT, obtainsN received symbols for the N subbands for each OFDM symbol period, andprovides received pilot symbols to a processor 1250 for channelestimation. OFDM demodulator 1245 further receives a frequency responseestimate for the downlink from processor 1250, performs datademodulation on the received data symbols to obtain data symbolestimates (which are estimates of the transmitted data symbols), andprovides the data symbol estimates to an RX data processor 1255, whichdemodulates (i.e., symbol demaps), deinterleaves, and decodes the datasymbol estimates to recover the transmitted traffic data. The processingby OFDM demodulator 1245 and RX data processor 1255 is complementary tothe processing by OFDM modulator 1215 and TX data processor 1210,respectively, at access point 1200.

On the uplink, a TX data processor 1260 processes traffic data andprovides data symbols. An OFDM modulator 1265 receives and multiplexesthe data symbols with pilot symbols, performs OFDM modulation, andprovides a stream of OFDM symbols. The pilot symbols may be transmittedon subbands that have been assigned to terminal 1230 for pilottransmission, where the number of pilot subbands for the uplink may bethe same or different from the number of pilot subbands for thedownlink. A transmitter unit 1270 then receives and processes the streamof OFDM symbols to generate an uplink signal, which is transmitted bythe antenna 1235 to the access point 1210.

At access point 1210, the uplink signal from terminal 1230 is receivedby the antenna 1225 and processed by a receiver unit 1275 to obtainsamples. An OFDM demodulator 1280 then processes the samples andprovides received pilot symbols and data symbol estimates for theuplink. An RX data processor 1285 processes the data symbol estimates torecover the traffic data transmitted by terminal 1235. A processor 1290performs channel estimation for each active terminal transmitting on theuplink. Multiple terminals may transmit pilot concurrently on the uplinkon their respective assigned sets of pilot subbands, where the pilotsubband sets may be interlaced.

Processors 1290 and 1250 direct (e.g., control, coordinate, manage,etc.) operation at access point 1210 and terminal 1235, respectively.Respective processors 1290 and 1250 can be associated with memory units(not shown) that store program codes and data. Processors 1290 and 1250can also perform computations to derive frequency and impulse responseestimates for the uplink and downlink, respectively.

For a multiple-access OFDM system (e.g., an orthogonal frequencydivision multiple-access (OFDMA) system), multiple terminals maytransmit concurrently on the uplink. For such a system, the pilotsubbands may be shared among different terminals. The channel estimationtechniques may be used in cases where the pilot subbands for eachterminal span the entire operating band (possibly except for the bandedges). Such a pilot subband structure would be desirable to obtainfrequency diversity for each terminal. The techniques described hereinmay be implemented by various means. For example, these techniques maybe implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For ahardware implementation, the processing units used for channelestimation may be implemented within one or more application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digitalsignal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs),field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed toperform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. Withsoftware, implementation can be through modules (e.g., procedures,functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. Thesoftware codes may be stored in memory unit and executed by theprocessors 1290 and 1250.

What has been described above includes examples of one or moreembodiments. It is, of course, not possible to describe everyconceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes ofdescribing the aforementioned embodiments, but one of ordinary skill inthe art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations ofvarious embodiments are possible. Accordingly, the described embodimentsare intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications andvariations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in eitherthe detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to beinclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising”is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.

1. A method of dynamically scheduling frequency sets for reuse by userdevices to reduce inter-cell interference comprising: determining afairness metric for each user device in a wireless communication region;determining a channel peak desirability metric for each user device, thechannel peak desirability metric reflects the instant channeldesirability on the user device's best available frequency set relativeto the user device's average channel quality; and determining an overallscheduling metric for each user device, the overall scheduling metric isthe product of the fairness metric and the channel peak desirabilitymetric determining an overall scheduling metric for each user device,the overall scheduling metric is the product of the fairness metric anda channel delay desirability metric, wherein the channel delaydesirability metric is the ratio between the maximum instant spectralefficiency over all free frequency sets and the maximum instant spectralefficiency over all unavailable frequency sets.
 2. The method of claim1, the channel delay desirability metric is employed in addition to thechannel peak desirability metric to determine an overall schedulingmetric for each user device.
 3. The method of claim 1, the channel delaydesirability metric is employed in place of the channel peakdesirability metric.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingidentifying a user device with a highest overall scheduling metric scoreas a winning user device.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprisingawarding a frequency set to the winning user device.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising reiterating the method of claim 1 afterawarding the frequency set to the winning user device until all userdevices have been assigned a frequency set.
 7. The method of claim 6,the winning user device in each iteration of frequency set assignment isexcluded from subsequent iterations to permit all user devices to beassigned a frequency set.
 8. The method of claim 6, the winning userdevice in each iteration of frequency set assignment is included insubsequent iterations to permit a winning user device to obtain multiplefrequency set assignments.
 9. The method of claim 1, determining thefairness metric for a given user comprises evaluating the fairnessmetric using an equal grade of service protocol.
 10. The method of claim1, determining the fairness metric for a given user comprises evaluatingthe fairness metric using proportional fair scheduler protocol.
 11. Asystem that facilitates dynamic active set based restricted (ASBR)frequency scheduling in a wireless network environment, comprising: anASBR scheduling component that determines an overall scheduling metricfor each user device in the wireless network environment; a peakcomponent that determines an overall channel peak desirability metricfor each user device, wherein the overall channel peak desirabilitymetric reflects the instant channel desirability on the user device'sbest available frequency set relative to the user device's averagechannel quality; a delay component that determines a channel delaydesirability metric for each user device, wherein the channel delaydesirability metric is the ratio between the maximum instant spectralefficiency over all free frequency sets, and the maximum instantspectral efficiency over all unavailable frequency sets; and a processorthat controls at least one of the ABR scheduling component, the peakcomponent, and the delay component.
 12. The system of claim 11, the ASBRscheduling component determines a fairness metric for each user devicebased on at least one of an equal grade of service protocol and aproportionally fair scheduler protocol.
 13. The system of claim 12, theoverall scheduling metric is a product of the fairness metric and atleast one of the overall channel desirability metric and the channeldelay desirability metric.
 14. The system of claim 11, the ASBRscheduling component designates a user device having a highest scoringoverall scheduling metric relative to all other user devices in thewireless network as a winning user device.
 15. The system of claim 14,the ASBR scheduling component awards a frequency set to the winning userdevice, the frequency set comprises one or more subcarriers sufficientto meet frequency requirements of the winning user device.
 16. Thesystem of claim 11, farther comprising a low power component thatassesses channel quality for a user device and transmits a signal at lowpower when the channel quality is sufficiently high.
 17. The system ofclaim 11, farther comprising a sorter component that determines whetherto exclude a winning user device from subsequent frequency setassignments.
 18. The system of claim 17, the sorter component excludesthe winning user device from subsequent iterations of frequency setassignment when it is desired that all user devices sequentially receivea frequency set assignment.
 19. The system of claim 17, the sortercomponent includes the winning user device in subsequent iterations offrequency set assignment when it is desired that a device receivemultiple frequency set assignments.
 20. An apparatus that facilitatesscheduling frequency assignments for user devices in a wirelesscommunication environment, the apparatus comprising: means fordetermining a fairness metric for each user device in the communicationenvironment; means for determining an overall channel peak desirabilitymetric for each user device, wherein the overall channel peakdesirability metric reflects the instant channel desirability on theuser device's best available frequency set relative to the user device'saverage channel quality; means for determining a channel delaydesirability metric for each device, wherein the channel delaydesirability metric is the ratio between the maximum instant spectralefficiency over all free frequency sets, and the maximum instantspectral efficiency over all unavailable frequency sets; and means fordetermining an overall scheduling metric score for each device, thescheduling metric score is a product of the fairness metric and one orboth of the overall channel peak desirability metric and the channeldelay desirability metric.
 21. The apparatus of claim 20, furthercomprising means for identifying a user device having the highestoverall scheduling metric score relative to overall scheduling metricscores for all other users in the wireless environment as a winning userdevice.
 22. The apparatus of claim 21, the winning user device isawarded a frequency set comprising one or more subcarriers.
 23. Theapparatus of claim 22, further comprising means for excluding thewinning user device from subsequent rounds of frequency set assignmentto ensure that all user devices are sequentially awarded a frequencyset.
 24. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising means forincluding the winning device in subsequent rounds of frequencyassignment to permit the winning user device to obtain multiplefrequency sets.
 25. The apparatus of claim 20, the means for determiningthe fairness metric employs an equal grade of service protocol.
 26. Theapparatus of claim 20, the means for determining the fairness metricemploys a proportional fair protocol.
 27. A computer-readable mediumhaving stored thereon computer-executable instructions for: determininga fairness metric for each user device in a wireless networkenvironment; determining an overall channel peak desirability metric foreach user device, wherein the overall channel peak desirability metricreflects the instant channel desirability on the user device's bestavailable frequency set relative to the user device's average channelquality; and determining a channel delay desirability metric for eachuser device, wherein the channel delay desirability metric is the ratiobetween the maximum instant spectral efficiency over all free frequencysets, and the maximum instant spectral efficiency over all unavailablefrequency sets.
 28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, furthercomprising computer-executable instructions for determining an overallscheduling metric score for each user device, the overall schedulingmetric score is a product of the fairness metric and at least one of theoverall channel peak desirability metric and the channel delaydesirability metric for the user device.
 29. The computer-readablemedium of claim 28, further comprising computer-executable instructionsfor awarding a frequency set to a user device that has the highestoverall scheduling metric score relative to all other user devices inthe wireless network environment.
 30. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 27, further comprising computer-executable instructions forexcluding the user device awarded the frequency set from subsequentiterations of frequency set assignment.
 31. The computer-readable mediumof claim 27, further comprising instructions for including the userdevice awarded the frequency set in subsequent iterations of frequencyset assignment to permit the user device to obtain multiple frequencysets.
 32. A microprocessor that executes instructions for dynamicfrequency set scheduling in a wireless communication network region, theinstructions comprising: assessing each of a fairness metric, an overallchannel peak desirability metric, and a channel delay desirabilitymetric for each of a plurality of user devices in the network region,wherein the channel delay desirability metric is the ratio between themaximum instant spectral efficiency over all free frequency sets and themaximum instant spectral efficiency over all unavailable frequency sets;determining an overall scheduling metric score for each user device thatis based on the fairness metric and at least one of the overall channelpeak desirability metric and the channel delay desirability metric; andawarding a frequency set to a user device with a highest overallscheduling metric relative to the other user devices in the networkregion.